Camargo, IL (5-4-09) by Kelly Brown - Public Relations Director – In racing the number 500 has a lot of significance whether it is 500 miles at Indy or Daytona, but it is not every day that a driver gets to celebrate 500 career feature wins. Fred Rahmer did just that tonight in O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions competition, as the driver simply known as “Fast Freddie” took the win for the PA Posse.  

Rahmer’s night began with pole sitter Brian Leppo by his side. On the drop of the Green Flag Leppo jumped out into the early lead and would set the pace for the first 13 laps of the event. Rahmer would fall in line with three time All Star Champion Dale Blaney following in the fray. Doug Esh, who started fourth picked up the third position by Lap 3 and slid past Rahmer on Lap 6.  

The event’s only Yellow Flag was unfurled for Mark Smith’s racing machine, which came to a stop against the inside guardrail in Turn 2 on the 6th orbit of the oval. This was bad news for Esh as the lap did not count and when the field was reverted back to the prior lap it sent him back to third in Rahmer’s tire tracks.  

When the field took the Green Flag, Rahmer blocked a charge by Esh and set his sights on the lead. Rahmer stalked Leppo in the bottom groove, until Lap 14. At that point Leppo’s car was clearly tight on the bottom and Rahmer was able to get around him in the second turn.  

Rahmer did not drive away from the pack through once in the lead. He had to deal with lapped traffic and in the final laps he fought off advances by Leppo, Esh, and Alan Krimes, but Rahmer had number 500 in his grasps and did not let it go. At the finish line it would be Rahmer with Leppo, Esh, Krimes and Blaney rounding out the top-five. 

This was not only Rahmer’s 500^th win, but it was also his 164^th win at Lincoln Speedway. Rahmer took home $5,000 for the victory. The timing of this win was quite timely for the legendary PA Posse member, as he will be inducted into the Sprint Car Hall of Fame in less than a month.